and we had a debate whether we take a balanced approach to deficit reduction as you described. one that asks the wealthiest americans to pay a bit more while making sure we reduce spending and make responsible spending cuts without cutting the legs out from under the economy. and i'm sure mr. bernstein would agree that as the economist i heard when i was a member of the budget committee repeatedly say that you can't cut so much so fast because in a recovery that is already more fragile than we'd like to see, you want to make sure you don't slow or stall that recovery. that's what the republicans are risking. it's really -- you know, i wish and i know that americans across the country wish that there would just be a massive outbreak of responsibility in the republican conference so that we could bring them to the table, sit down, and work together to avoid massive spending cuts which they seem willing to allow to happen. >> a massive outbreak of responsibility. wouldn't that be a great occurrence? let me ask you, jared. you may agree, but senator mitch mcconnell clearly doesn't